Pyong Bricole

Finn or Bjork ?

Finn or Bjork ?, originally uploaded by pyongbricole.

I visited Bern, the unfamous capital of Switzerland, at the end of autumn, to be exact, during HALLOWEN day. The weather was crips and bright, just a great day to have a walk on a fog-free Bern and take some picture of the newly arrived babies bear at BärenPark.

It's a tradition in Bern, since 1513, to keep a bear at the city center. Later on they build a Bear Pit, still in the city center, and late this year, they renovate the pit and make it an ultra modern Bear Park - BärenPark, where people could enjoy the beauty of mascot of the city.

I once visited the park, sometimes last year, but then I learned that the bear I once saw and feed was passed away and replaced by 2 cuties, Finn (male) and Bjork (female). A week before my arrival, my friend who lived there told me, they "baby" is so cute and chubby. A week later, when I got there, it's ain't any baby, it's a mid-size bear. But she is still cute anyway :) oh yeah, I saw only one, the little boy is kind of shy for the moment, not yet get used to his celebrity new life.

But at least, Bjork did a great job, by herself. She did attracked so many hearts, eyes and cameras too, just by taking a nap in the open field of her bear pit :)

I felt like living in North Pole

It's going to be half way through the month of March. We supposed to enter spring by this time. Instead, today we got a blizzard with the gust which made the mercury which hovered on the freezing point felt like a subzero level windchill.

Fresh snow piled up on the snow which was already there since October last year. I love having a white Christmas, but when we start to have 5 consecutive months of snow, I started to feel like I am, actually living in North Pole, except, I have longer sunlight per day during the winter compare to those who really lives in the top of the world.

Sleigh all the way

It has been 2 days we got battered by the snow storm, we have about 1 meter or 3 feet of fresh now in the garden. Tonight, there is the Fete de St. Nicolas, one of the big festival here. Rue de Prado and Grand Place were closed as a makeshift pedestrian zone for the street party. We went out to enjoy the ambience, luckily we took the sleigh with us, with the amount of snow we have today, it's really a lot easier to move around with racquet or sleigh than with the heavy snow boots LOL

PERFECT BIRTHDAY

Last Friday, I celebrated my birthday at the office. It's one of those perfect days in my life...early morning, Regina already sang the birthday song for me, later on Julien surprised me with a jewelry sets, after everyone head out to work and school, Sebastien helped me to mop the floor with the Swiffer (woohoo). And that afternoon....they surprised me with a Mousse au Chocolate and a bottle of champagne in the office.WHAT A PERFECT BIRTHDAY I had!

Last Raisin of the Season

During the visit to our friend's house at Saviese, I found this beautiful image of last raisin if this season on their neighbor's wineyard. Mid of last week all of sudden we got the cold front which brought snow even at the lower altitude. They told me those raisin, which been dried out on it's branches, will be picked up later by birds.

After 13 years...

In the last 13 years, I just focused myself to the life I have, my education, job, family. Kind of forgotten those old friends with whom I spend my school years in my hometown, Palembang. Thanks to Friendster and Facebook, lately, I found them back one by one. It's kind of funny that all of sudden I got connected again with my teen-life. It brought me back to the time when I was a little rebel, it made me think...'HOW CRAZY I WAS?' LOL..Why I was crazy, cause I loved to debate with my teachers whenever I found that they slipped with their words. Be honest, I didn't feel sorry for what I did, I know it's not so polite based on Asian culture to debate with elder people, but I was born with a liberal thought all over me, I just couldn't stand when they use the excuse ,'...because you are only a kid, so you can't....' or 'beacuse you are a girl, then don't expected to be able to do what a boy could'...I couldn't stand of those, not even now. I believe I have the right to speak out my mind , in a good manner, when I found myself on the opposite site of the matter.

Back to the story, so this is about the reunion I had with my long time friend , Joeska. She is currently living and working at ETH, Zurich - one of elite university in Switzerland. In the last 1 year, we tried to meet but never done it until last week. We visited the Zurich Zoo (there where we're met), had coffee, then dinner together. It's was a delightful afternoon-evening. My children loved her, so did she. I remembered that I joked on her when he hold my children hands when they're walking together , I said 'Joes, careful if someone seeing you with my children, they might things that you had 2 children already ' LOL....

After we dropped my hubby and children in the hotel, we went out to have a walk until we reach one of the top hill in Zurich center, not far from the hotel. We had a small talked up there, while seeing the beauty of Zurich at night. It's actually not more than review what we had together before at school...but it's so heart-warming. We both agreed, after 13 years, never even once we tought that we might be able to see each other again since we both lost 'total' contact, plus...who ever even think we might meet in Switzerland...this country never been on our list as a place where we want to go either for education or to live. Anyway, here we are, in Switzerland, and last week, we finally met again after 13 years.....who said 13 always be a bad number, it's one of our lucky number

Animal's Rights

Until now, all I know about rights are human rights and consumer rights, haven't heard about animal rights, have you? Me too, today, is the first time in my life I heard such a bizarre term, but it is, at least, made me laughed out loud a.k.a LOL.

So what is this animal's right is all about ? here are the summary of the article I got from Yahoo! News. And my fave part is how pig seems like don't really appreciate this animal's right movement LOL.

By the way, since Pyong is a fox, isn't that mean I will also be granted such rights? LOL

-Novita-

All Swiss animals are equal - but some more so than others

GENEVA (AFP) - Want to get rid of your goldfish? Swiss owners who have been flushing them down the toilet -- still alive -- must now find other methods since strict, new animal protection laws went into effect Monday.

Instead, a fish must be first knocked out and then killed before its body can be disposed of, the law stipulates.

The new legislation spells out in exhaustive detail how all domestic animals are to be treated, whether they be pets, farm animals or destined for scientific experiments.

Wild animals are also covered by the law if they reside in zoos or circuses.

Just like in George Orwell's satire "Animal Farm" however, some animals enjoy more "equal rights" than others.

Not only are goldfish now afforded a more "dignified" death than being dispatched round the U-bend, but it is now also forbidden for Swiss anglers to practise catch-and-release fishing or recreational catching only to throw the fish back in the water, or to use live fish as bait.

In the domestic sphere, common household pets such as budgies and hamsters can no longer be kept by themselves.

The same applies for more exotic breeds such as lamas, alpacas and yaks -- admittedly not your average pet but a common feature in zoos.

Even sheep and goats must have at least "a visual contact with their fellows," according to the new law.

Man's "best friend," the faithful hound, comes in for special treatment as dog owners will be obliged by law to take special classes on how to raise Fido properly so he is less likely to bite.

And Swiss dog-owners wishing to "customise" their pets as a fashion accessory will not be allowed to crop their tails or ears -- nor "force them to have surgery to get droopy ears."

But one cannot help but wonder if the animals would really welcome all the provisions Swiss lawmakers have generously bestowed upon them.

Pigs, for example, are often said to be happiest when rolling around in the mud -- but now they have the legal right to a shower to freshen up.

 

Family day around Martigny......(everybody was happy)

Starting with a beautiful sunny day, we did not know what we will do...and suddenly, we think about going to Marche du Grand St.Bernard at Martigny for a quick lunch and followed by a short walk around that area. Before finished the lunch, Sebastien cried to go out side to play at the park. It's one of the chaotic lunch I ever had. So ended up, everybody had a speedy lunch and went to the park right away. While Julien surveyed Regina and Sebastien, I went to the car to pick up the 'other' baby...PATAUD. Once he arrived at the park, he concentrated to the lake in front of park right away....after 5 seconds, he's in the water..... swimming.....ok..in this case at least 3 people happy - Regina, Sebastien and Pataud.

From there, we took a short drive to Pissevache, it's a small cascade in the middle of nowhere. We spent about 10 minutes there, just to enjoy the view and let the dog got himself in the water again. The way he stay in the water, did you think he looks like the brown bear tried to catch fresh water salmon...except his tail is longer ;)

Final destination...Labyrinthe Adventure Parc...this is a small 'theme' park where all the toys are designed based on the labyrinth's rules....complicated and easy to get lost. Everybody enjoy a piece of the game down there except me and Pataud. Me, because I got hurt both of my legs after moving so much the whole day and Pataud because dog is not allowed to enter (even the small one and very friendly one......guess nobody want to clean their poop)

Swiss Marmottes

Who said Swiss is only about chocolate and cheese...it also has its cute animal Marmottes. Found these two cute pals at a grocery stores. Lately stores offers many gadget with Swiss flags on it to support the EuroCup 2008 which will take place in some of Swiss' cities (Bern, Basel, Geneva, Zurich, and if I did not mistake...Luzern too).

The marmottes I bought are extra large keychains, which you can squeeze on the tummy and it will make either a yodelling sound or the accordion music....sometimes it's good to show a little bit patriotism when you have a country you can proud of....